#with casting i mean

[dolokhoded]

thinking about song of the ocean from dimitris papadimitriou's moby dick musical... girl.....girl.....

[tossawary]

This is petty fandom salt, BUT... I've been chewing on this phenomenon that I've been calling "Fandom's Darling". It is related to things like "Author's Darling" and "Mary Sue / Gary Stu" and "Protagonist Halo" and all that jazz, where one character gains a peculiar narrative weight in a story.

"Author's Darling" is when a writer has a favorite character, and the world and all other characters sort of get... warped to put the Darling in the spotlight. It's most noticeable in TV shows with multiple writers, when a character you personally like suddenly has their previous characterization destroyed to make another character look good somehow. Every other character might become weirdly incompetent. The Darling's feelings are treated as The Most Important Feelings in any given situation. The logic of the fictional world seems broken past suspension of disbelief in order to validate this one character's beliefs or skillset or some other fantasy. And so on.

"Fandom's Darling" is what I've been calling the pattern where a fandom essentially crowns a New Protagonist for their fanfiction stories (it's often a side character rather than the original protagonist, but it can also happen to protagonists). This character becomes the self-insert for all sorts of indulgent fantasies, gaining special powers or backstories, and/or becoming the focus of extreme whump, and/or hooking up with all the various hotties, starring in all sorts of tropey AUs, and so on. They're not always an obvious Mary Sue version of themselves, but the character's original personality and interpersonal relationships tend to get warped or dropped completely, and other characters tend to become a little flat around them. I call it "Fandom's Darling" because it's not just one self-indulgent fantasy fic (you do you! Have fun!) with characterization choices that I don't vibe with (I have neither the time nor the desire nor the authority to police anything, I am just venting), but rather a prolific mini-fandom of sorts revolving around this empty doll / fanon version of the chosen vessel character, so it becomes a little unavoidable.

I am salty about this (mildly frustrated) (imagine a soft sigh of disappointment before I just go do something else) because you are FUCKED if you actually liked the canonical version of this character and their interpersonal relationships. It's almost worse than liking an obscure character that no one cares about. There's about a thousand fics starring your fave, but maybe only about a dozen of them are actually rooted in any kind of recognisable canon.

[mosdrash]

Found a new hobby/therapy: draw the various funny moments of the cast in Ithaca as their characters 🤭

[agir1ukn0w]

excuse me was anyone gonna warn me about how goddamn ✨PRETTY✨ this young man is or…..

[maydaydiaz]

eddie and the priest. maddiebuckjosh scene. eddie crying. buck crying. no stills after the moustache shaving. no buddie scene stills. no church. no s7 call. the bible or ryan’s acting notebook. break up green. the well. the divorced couple. eddie in a tank top he cut himself. the uncomfortable truths. tim’s best ryan scene. the silence from the journalists. the lack of interviews.

[cthulhum]

does anyone realize how crazy it is to have the actor of a mostly headcanoned queer ship say the fans were never crazy and they were right all along after 10+ years of everyone just absolutely going nuts over the said queerbaited ship

[mikkeneko]

PSA to fan creators who don't have a lot of regular contact with children: They are almost always bigger than you think. A 1-year-old baby may already be walking. A toddler is likely already hip-high. A 10-year-old may already be taller than at least one of their parents. A 14/15 year old may already have reached their adult height.

[syrupbitee]

free my boy from his own show he did nothing wrong

[butyouaremymess]

💚💚💚

[n0ahsferatu]

pov you are a locked chest or perhaps someone bleeding to death

[bixels]

I'm not explaining why re-imagining characters as POC is not the same as white-washing, here of all places should fucking understand.

[strawlessandbraless]

I mean we already knew, but it’s still beautiful. Still destiel.

[bloodsportified]

reneé rapp confirming lesbian regina george once again thank you mother

[obsidianbit]

I love this gay ass show with its literally life ending injuries that heal immediately, but only when convenient to the plot, and its ridiculous use of modern phrases, and its laughing in the face of historical accuracy, and its kissing the face of the fans instead of trying to outwit them, and the way everyone involved in the show seem to go 'I KNOW RIGHT! I'M EXCITED TOO!' instead of mocking the fans

[thefrsers]

"The stories were great this year. I think we felt like we had to come out even bigger, and bolder, and biblical with it." -Angela Bassett teases season 7 finale(x)

[hansoeii]

A lovely friend of mine got my 10th Doctor illustration signed by David Tennant yesterday and also gave him a little gift I prepared! ✨️ She managed to record what he said, and I have listened to it nonstop since she sent it to me, haha. He's been my favourite person and actor for over a decade, and the fact that he's seen my art and likes it means the world to me!

The gift included most of my good omens prints, bookmarks, stickers and a personal letter. I hope he got the chance to look through them!

You can listen to what he said here: